The Reunion of Gouken and Goutetsu
by RoKiSePh
Summary: Gouken finally finds his long departed master...will questions be answered before they are asked?


The Reunion of Gouken and Goutetsu

The figure clad in brown walks down the misty road. Countless iron and stone statues lined the sides, figures of Ashura placed so close together they made a wall. It seemed to him as if he were walking down a corridor instead.

How long had he traveled? He doesn't know. Time for him now doesn't tempt his patience. He doesn't feel hunger, nor does he feel tiredness. He feels at peace with himself, yet feels the need for the further fulfillment of something he might have promised himself long ago...

When he first arrived in that 'land', all he knew was that he wanted very much to look for 'him'. The strangers who approached him gave assurance that he was where he was supposed to belong, and that he could do anything he wanted, and be forevermore happy. However as much as he instinctively trusted them, he couldn't help but to leave for his own reasons. He didn't really know where to go next, and hadn't the slightest clue how to ask for directions, but before he could open his mouth to ask for help, the strangers all smiled and in unison pointed to an opening in the forest that he hadn't noticed.

And so he walked, and he walked, and generally just kept walking wherever he felt was right. He just kept going, knowing that in time he would eventually meet up with 'him.

He walked up to one of the statues and fingered its outlines. He smiled and looked at the fine carvings on the stone face and gave out a laugh. He tried to rock the figure but it had a heavy bottom and would not budge easily.

"Perfect, as usual..." He muttered to himself.

"I'm glad you recognised it."

He gave another laugh as he turned around.

"Master Goutetsu. It has been too long."

They grabbed each other by the wrists.

"Ah, Gouken, time is something I don't think about anymore. And names are something we do not use here too. I only know of eventualities. And I knew I would eventually meet you again."

"So, you made all these?" Gouken gestured toward the endless rows of Ashura lining the road.

"No, I made only those on the side you just observed."

"So who made those on the other side?"

"Oh, someone I previously called 'Master'"

Gouken raised an eyebrow.

"I should like to meet him."

"You will…eventually."

They continued walking down the path together.

"So, was it Gouki?"

"Yes it was, I was hoping it wouldn't be so soon, but he tapped so deeply into Satsui no Hadou that I succumbed to him in battle. I admit I was unprepared. I left so much matters unfinished…"

"Ah, so how many disciples did you have?"

"I had in total three. I let one go because he fought with anger and couldn't let go of his past. Then, there was Ken, and Ryu…"

"Oh, so you didn't manage to give them their names."

"No, I had them prepared, but I thought I had more time."

"So what honorary name were you going to give them?"

" Sourei and Sougon."

"So who's the one that is imposingly magnificent?

"Ken." Said Gouken, with a smile.

"So Ryu is all about solemn grandeur. Hmmm makes sense."

"You've never met him, how would you know?"

"Oh, word gets around here, if you want to know something, you just have to look for whoever has the right answers."

They reached a split in the path, but they just walked naturally together onto the right one.

"I buried you still smiling. I know you were happy but I just have to know why you lost."

"Well, obviously for the same reason as you were, I was caught unprepared. I must say as strong as Gouki was, it was a risky move he pulled doing Shun Goku Satsu on me. He was very lucky that I was concentrating on Messatsu Gou Hadou or else I would have stopped him cold."

"And because you lost to a lucky shot, you are happy?" Gouken smiled.

"I know you know the real answer Gouken, but you just want to hear it from my lips don't you. I know that you wouldn't be happy at the outcome. But yes, I was happy that he could reach so deep into Satsui No Hadou. It was the potential in him that I saw, the fact that he would carry on the art to that kind of extreme..."

Gouken looked as if he was deep in thought. Goutetsu sighed.

"You two have been at odds since the first day both of you sparred. I never regretted taking on both of you as the successors to my art. I don't know if you think that you have in some way failed me, but I tell you no lies and I now say that you haven't."

Goutetsu suddenly stopped. Gouken noticed that along the wall of Ashuras, there were two unfinished stone blocks next to each other. They certainly looked out of place with only the lower body finished. Goutetsu walked over to one of the rocks, and began slowly chipping away at the central portion of one of the rocks with tools Gouken didn't see him carrying before.

"I know what you have done after my passing. How you have transferred the art to your students wasn't the way I taught it to you. But, I don't see it as a stain in our lineage. Your method is pure. It takes the form of what I have passed down to you, and you have brought it back down to its basics and re-shaped it from there. A Shoryuken is as good as a Gou Shoryuken, it just depends on the individual how you want to take it from the basics on. You knew this when you were teaching the students. Now I'm telling you, I know it too. So do not worry about corrupting the art."

Goutetsu grunted as he grabbed and shifted the rock to face another angle, and stooped to continue chipping away.

"As for Gouki, he accepted what I had taught, and he took it from there. He never went back, he just went forward. From the moment he left us I knew he was going to explore Satsui No Hadou beyond my instructions. He had always been different from you. He was impatient. And he used to hold grudges. Both of you were always evenly matched. On the occasional sessions that you lost to him, you simply bowed your head and trained for to better. On the occasions he lost to you, he would be so angry that he had such a slow progression. He couldn't see that both of you were improving together. He could only see that he hasn't improved beyond you. I used to think it was my mistake for having such a slow pace in teaching him to embrace Satsui No hado. "

Goutetsu glanced upward at Gouken.

"I still wonder if it it's a good thing that he has no disciples though. For him to want to progress is wonderful. But not to have it passed down would be such a waste. Did you know he tried to get his own 'disciple', in a manner of speaking?"

"Was that so? What happened then?"

"Oh, Ryu turned him down, in his own way."

Gouken was speechless.

"I'll be very frank. It was Gouki's chance to have passed down what he had improved on the art. The Gouki now isn't the reckless Gouki of before. He's somewhat matured. So I would guess that he would have made a slightly better master than how we would have envisioned him once before. Fortunately though, because he was turned down, the art that you passed on has flourished and reached a new height."

"Is that so? No wait, Master, I searched for you, to ask you one question, and answer many questions I thought you would have. Instead, I ask you one question, and you gave me answers to questions I haven't even thought of."

"You'll get used to it. And by the way you're a grandfather of sorts, Ken now has a son, and a disciple."

"A son? And a disciple? He's too young to have a son, let alone a disciple…wait, how long has it been since I have passed on?"

"There's that concept of time again. You need to learn more about your present situation. Anyway, as we speak, it is the year 2000, as we used to say, to them. I'll tell you more about how we pass our 'time' here later on. Anyway, Ryu now is under training again."

"Elaborate." said Gouken.

"That frown you have shows your concern, but not to worry, he hasn't abandoned our ways, it's literally part of him now, and besides, his new guide wouldn't be so foolish as to ask him to throw away a lifetime of hard work. He's merely going through a period of intense focus and concentration, to improve his overall performance and strength, and to integrate whatever new skills he will learn into his own set of skills."

"Who's this new guide?"

"Good question. His name is Oro…"

"Never heard of him…"

"And neither had I, until I asked around further. Apparently, he went into seclusion decades before our time. He's a Senjutsu grandmaster, that will make excellent training for Ryu, considering the focusing powers of senjutsu."

"Anymore information about him?"

"Yes, but nothing bad apparently. From what I've heard so far about Oro, Ryu will be in safe hands. Or hand, as I know it."

"What?"

Goutetsu got up and looked at the statue, look at Gouken's midriff, and look at the statue again.

"Seems about right…yes, about Ryu, he's fine, not to worry."

"And what about Gouki, is he doing fine? I don't have any grudge against him now actually, I was worried more about his presence and how he would affect the people around him, but I feel at peace with him now."

"Well, Gouki is improving tremendously…"

Goutetsu gives another grunt as he shifts the statue yet again…

Wiping away the non-existent sweat from his brows out of habit, Goutetsu continues.

"He has actually brought Satsui no Hadou beyond my level and tapped into its reserves quite successfully. Impressive really, well, just to be expected with his demonic fervor in his quest. I haven't been asking a lot about him recently though, but I do know what he has done. Well…where should I start?"

Gouken thought that the obvious would be since the instance he expired, but he understood that Goutetsu wasn't an all seer.

"Ah, there's that incidence, during a conversation sometime back, someone mentioned that the Overlord of a large organization was killed by a mysterious figure who jumped in and killed him in a flash. Some, Shadoloo, or something like that. The way it was described to me sounds very suspiciously like Shun Goku Satsu. And we both know back then…"

"Hold on, this organization, they've been after us before."

Goutetsu stops working on the statue.

"That is surprising, you actually know this too."

"And you?"

"Strangely enough, actually they were after us for quite a long while. Gouki was the one who put a real stop to this, unintentionally. How did they cross paths with you?"

Gouken sat down and recalled that day.

"This was before Gouki returned to challenge me the first time. Actually, this was even before I accepted Dan. There was this night; I was in my hut at our old training grounds. A man appeared in the darkness and, I could feel his overwhelming power. He demanded that I show him the true power, and we exchanged blows. Actually, I didn't really get to touch him, his unnatural strength and his blows chilled me to the core and I was on the ground almost in an instant. He scoffed at me and said that he was disappointed that _that_ was all to the power, and disappeared into the night. Occasionally after that I would hear of accounts of this same man, and the same kind of unnatural sense it gave people, and how he was actually forming an army of sorts."

Gouken cocked his head to one side.

"But…he never approached me again, so what do you mean he was after us for a long time?"

Goutetsu smiled and said

"Ryu."

"Ryu? They were after Ryu? He's rather popular isn't he?"

"By all accounts, this Vega person was actually after Gouki. He must have come to you looking for him. He wants the person who posseses Satsui no Hadou, and to be able to control that power, as power loving mongers are wont to be. So after he met you, maybe he felt that it wasn't what he wanted, thinking you were Gouki. Later on he discovered Ryu, and saw the potential in the boy, and went after him instead. Needless to say, he failed, and after that, got finally killed by Gouki. Now I don't know if Gouki knew of our and Shadoloo's relationship, but that was a fitting end for him, and a loop that was unexpected."

Gouken sat stunned, again, trying to absorb it all. Everything was going too fast.

"It seems like with every answer to a question you have not asked, more questions appear in your mind."

Gouken simply nodded and sighed. Goutetsu went back to the statue and continued work on it. They were both silent for quite a long time.

"What else did Gouki do?"

"I'm not so sure myself. He has recently gone into a deeper seclusion. I have a feeling that asking any newcomers wouldn't get us much information. Not that I'm really in a hurry for those. After all, we'll get to meet him one day."

"And then we can ask him everything?"

"Yes, and we can ask him everything. Maybe by then, you wouldn't be so curious anymore anyway."

Goutetsu stopped working on the rock, for it was now a complete statue. Gouken stood and admired a perfect likeness of himself, in a grand stance, facing the other unfinished rock.

"I'll finish that other one when he eventually comes. Here, take my tools, I have more. Let's make more of these"

Gouken declined.

"You know I was never into this, only Gouki picked this craft from you, as impatient as he was. Maybe that was a sign of his underlying temperance?"

"Maybe."

They both stood and admired the work. Gouken couldn't wait until the other statue was complete, when the three of them would be reunited once more. Of course he knew that, all he had to do was wait, because it was going to happen, eventually.


End file.
